Individuals, institutions, and post office employees introduce items of mail into the postal system at local post office branches. Once the receiving post office branch is in possession of a mail piece, the mail piece begins a journey through a highly organized system. Mail received into the postal system at a local branch office is eventually transported to a centralized postal hub. There are in excess of 250 postal hubs in the United States. These xe2x80x9chubsxe2x80x9d are known by alternative names including (i) processing and distribution centers, (ii) general mail facilities and (iii) mail distribution centers. Postal hubs are regional mail centers that service individual post office branches within a particular range of ZIP Codes. Typically, a postal hub services one or more xe2x80x9cthree-digit ZIP Code areas.xe2x80x9d For example, the Central Massachusetts Processing and Distribution Center (also known as the xe2x80x9cWorcester Facilityxe2x80x9d) services the local post office branches situated in all the ZIP Codes beginning with xe2x80x9c014xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c015,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9c016,xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c017.xe2x80x9d That is, mail destined for or departing from a local branch office within a ZIP Code beginning with any one of the four sets of three digits in the previous sentence will, under normal circumstances, pass through the Worcester facility. The Worcester facility services more than two dozen towns, each with its own local branch office. Nationally, the 250 plus hubs collectively service approximately five thousand individual postal branch offices.
Mail coming into and going out of the various local branch offices in a particular geographic region is processed through one or more hubs before delivery to its final destination. For instance, a mail piece originating in Southbridge, Mass. (01550) and destined for Littleton, Mass. (01460) is processed through the Worcester facility only (i.e., a single hub), because the ZIP Code of origin and the destination ZIP Code are both serviced by the Worcester hub. However, in many instances, a mail piece is processed through two hubs between the time of its introduction into the system and its ultimate delivery to an addressee.
This is the case, for instance, when a mail piece is received at a branch office that is not serviced by the same hub that services the branch office responsible for delivery of the mail piece to the intended recipient. In such a case, a mail piece received at a branch office is transported to an xe2x80x9coutgoing hubxe2x80x9d where the mail piece is sorted and routed for transportation to an xe2x80x9cincoming hub.xe2x80x9d The incoming hub is the hub that services the local branch office responsible for delivery of the mail piece to the intended recipient. For example, a mail piece originating at Littleton, Mass. (01460) and destined for Owego, N.Y. (13827) is transported from Littleton, Mass. to the Worcester, Mass. facility (i.e, the outgoing hub). At the Worcester facility, the mail piece is sorted and deposited on an appropriate vehicle for transport to the postal hub at Binghamton, N.Y. (i.e., the incoming hub) because the Binghamton hub services the local post office branches beginning with xe2x80x9c137,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9c138,xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c139.xe2x80x9d Once delivered to the Binghamton hub, the mail piece is sorted and delivered to the local, Owego, N.Y. branch office (13827) from which it is transported to the mailbox of the addressee, for example.
Mechanical, electronic and computer apparatus enable postal clerks to process large volumes of mail each day. Larger postal facilities (e.g., hubs) are equipped with rigid containers, bins on wheels, conveyor belts, forklifts, cranes, and other machinery to facilitate the handling of large quantities of mail. There are also segregating machines to separate a mixture of mail into different types.
Some first-class mail is precancelled. If not precancelled, mail pieces must go through a facer-canceler machine. Such a machine can process tens of thousands of letters an hour. Facing is the process of aligning letters so that the address side is facing the canceler, with the stamps in the same corner. The machine prints wavy black lines over the stamp, for example, canceling it so that it cannot be used again. Alongside the stamp is printed a circle containing the date, place, and time of stamping. The circle and wavy lines constitute the letter""s postmark. Typically, mail pieces are canceled at a hub.
After postmarking is completed, mail pieces are ready to be sorted according to destination. Traditionally, clerks sorted mail pieces by hand according to destination, using racks of pigeonholes, called distribution cases. Increasingly, however, the sorting process has been automated.
The United States introduced ZIP (Zone Improvement Plan) Codes in 1963. Users of the mail service place a five-digit number (ZIP Code) at the end of the address. The first three digits identify the section of the country to which the mail piece is being sent, while the last two identify the specific post office or zone at the destination. ZIP Codes enable the use of optical and electronic reading and sorting equipment.
In the 1980""s the United States Postal Service introduced a voluntary nine-digit ZIP Code system (i.e., ZIP+4). Four additional digits were added to the original ZIP Code after a hyphen to speed automated sorting operations. Of the four additional numbers, the first two indicate a specific sector of a city or town such as a cluster of streets or large buildings. The second two numbers represent an even smaller segment such as one side of a city block, a series of houses along a street, one floor of a large building, or a group of post office boxes. A still further refinement of this system was subsequently made with the introduction of eleven-digit codes (i.e., ZIP+4+2). The last two digits an eleven-digit code enable the pre-arrangement of mail pieces in accordance with a postal delivery person""s xe2x80x9cdelivery sequence,xe2x80x9d for example. That is, the tenth and eleventh digits of an eleven digit code enable the pre-arrangement of a plurality of mail pieces destined for a particular sector/segment of a city or town in accordance with the order in which they are to be delivered by the postal employee, for example. In a rural or suburban town, for instance, the last two digits of the eleven digit ZIP Code could correspond to a specific single family house or an individual unit of an apartment complex or other multifamily dwelling. In a city, a large office building might be designated as a sector, one or more floors of the building as a sub-sector and the tenth and eleventh digits used to designate individual suites or apartments within each sub-sector.
Increasingly, tasks once performed manually are now performed mechanically, electronically and by computers. For instance, destination addresses once read by human beings who sorted mail pieces into compartments based on destination city, for example, are now read by machine (e.g., scanned by optical character recognition apparatus). An image of a destination address is captured and stored in computer memory. Character recognition algorithms analyze the captured image and resolve it into a string of alphanumeric data to generate signals that instruct sorting machines where to route individual mail pieces. Such systems have dramatically increased the efficiency of the postal system and the overall volume of mail that the system can handle.
Despite the technological advances of recent decades, postal management is still largely concerned with the efficient administration and deployment of large bodies of manpower, the organization of large transport fleets, many aspects of property management, and financial and economic problems. Automation and computer technology have increasingly been exploited as a management aid with the realization that the postal service operates within a commercial market where competition from private companies can be fierce and efficiency is the watchword.
With a steady emphasis on efficiency, processes have been devised to allocate resources in order to facilitate the processing of as many mail pieces as possible during any particular window of time. Generally, the more automation that is implemented into the processing of mail, the less expensive mail processing becomes. It is frequently not enough, however, to automate, the automation must also be optimized. In some aspects of mail processing, human resources will remain indispensable. However, avoiding the needless use of human resources contributes significantly to cost savings.
Currently full resolution of address information down to delivery sequence is performed regardless of whether the full range of resolved information can be utilized by the facilities and mail sorting equipment through which a particular mail piece will pass. For instance, the 250 plus processing hubs within the U.S. Postal system are disparately equipped. Some incoming hubs enjoy a full array of postal processing machinery and computer equipment that can make use of the sorting signals resulting from full resolution of an eleven-digit code or of an address down to house number, for instance, and, thereby, sort mail pieces down to delivery sequence. A less equipped incoming hub may only be able to refine mail sortation down to subsector. Still less refined systems may only be able to sort down to sector or even town (e.g., the 5-digit ZIP Code level) only. The greater the depth to which mail-processing architecture can resolve delivery address information, the less human intervention is required. Human intervention and interpretation requires employee time, which directly translates to payroll expense for the employer.
For example, consider an incoming postal hub that can perform automated sortation on the basis of signals resulting from automated address interpretation only to a depth of the five-digit ZIP Code or town name, for instance. In such a case, mail pieces passing through the incoming mail center will be automatically sorted to a level that will get them on an appropriate transport vehicle destined for the local postal branch office responsible for delivery to the ultimate addressee. Further sortation and organization of the mail pieces is typically performed manually, for example, by postal employees who literally read the destination address information and sort the mail pieces into xe2x80x9cpigeon holesxe2x80x9d according to delivery route and sequence along the route. It is not difficult to appreciate that such manual handling is extremely costly. By comparison, an incoming hub that can perform automated sortation down to delivery sequence eliminates the need for an enormous amount of manual effort. For instance, where fully refined sortation is performed at the incoming mail center, mail is bundled and loaded on transport vehicles with individual mail pieces arranged in the order in which they are to be delivered within a sub-sector of a sector of a particular town (or five-digit service area). When mail thus sorted arrives at the appropriate local branch office, it is simply unloaded and placed upon the appropriate delivery vehicles either without the need for any further sorting or with minimal separation and organization. A mail delivery person then drives and/or walks his or her routes and delivers the prearranged mail.
In a system that does not distinguish among the sorting refinement capabilities of disparate hubs, the system-wide assumption is that every incoming mail center has full sortation refinement capability in order to realize the benefits of incoming mail centers capable of fully refined mail sorting. Accordingly, machine and human resources are needlessly dedicated to full address interpretation down to delivery sequence, for instance, for billions of mail pieces destined for incoming mail centers that cannot make use of the full string of resolved information. Obviously, such processing is inefficient.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a system of address processing that discriminates among plural incoming mail centers to which mail pieces are destined on the basis of the sortation refinement levels to which the various incoming mail centers can sort and bundle mail for further distribution.
Another problem associated with current postal address interpretation methods and architectures is that they rely on first-come, first-served processing of destination address images. That is, as images of destination addresses are captured and stored in memory, they are generally resolved (interpreted) in the order in which they were captured. Absent a method of prioritizing workflow in accordance with when the resolved images are needed, physical mail processing cannot proceed until all images complete address interpretation. This results in large, costly xe2x80x9cspikesxe2x80x9d in required automatic and manual address interpretation resources.
Consequently, there exists a need for a method of prioritizing address resolution in accordance with when the resolved address data is required rather than on a first-come, first-served basis.
In one aspect, the present invention concerns a method and architecture for improving the efficiency with which postal personnel and equipment are utilized. Although the invention is particularly well suited for use within the postal system, it will be appreciated that its scope and application of uses are not so limited. For instance, implementations of the invention could be utilized by parcel delivery services other than the U.S. or foreign postal services. Accordingly, terms such as mail piece, mail center etc. should not be interpreted so narrowly as to limited them to their literal meanings in association with the U.S. or foreign postal systems. In general terms, any item that undergoes transport from an origin to a destination through an organized sort and delivery system can be considered a mail piece for purposes of this specification and the appended claims. Additionally, the place at which the item is received into the system, the final depot responsible for its delivery to an addressee, and each intermediate-handling center responsible for some aspect of its routing, sorting, tracking and transport can be considered a mail center. Furthermore, although the present process and architecture are broadly implementable, the discussion and examples illustrating their implementation are presented primarily in the context of the sorting and movement of mail within and between postal hubs of the U.S. Postal Service.
Various embodiments, versions, aspects and implementations of the invention may include one or more of the following features.
In one aspect, a mail piece including a delivery address field is received at an outgoing mail center. In one version, first and second address portions are attributed to the address field. The first address portion includes sufficient information to route the mail piece to an incoming mail center while the second address portion includes sufficient information to further route the mail piece from the incoming mail center to an addressee from the incoming mail center. For example, the second address portion could include town name, street name, house or unit number, and addressee name information and/or subsequent postal code digits beyond those required to identify the incoming mail center. Examples of the latter postal code information include (i) the fourth and fifth digits of a five-digit ZIP Code, which would typically identify a town or a single local postal branch office serviced by a particular incoming mail center; (ii) the first seven digits of a ZIP+4 digit postal code, which may identify a sector of a town; (iii) the eighth and ninth digits of a ZIP+4 postal code, which may identify a sub-sector within a sector and (iv) the tenth and eleventh digits of a ZIP+4+2 digit postal code, which may identify a single house or mailbox along a postal delivery person""s mail route within a particular sub-sector of a sector within a town. Regardless of the attribution of address portions, the delivery address is resolvable by human beings and/or by automated address interpretation equipment and associated algorithms, for example, to varying degrees of xe2x80x9cdepth.xe2x80x9d The greater the depth to which the delivery address is resolved (i.e., interpreted) at any given point in time, the closer to the actual delivery point (e.g., a mailbox) the physical mail piece can be transported on the basis of that resolution. For example, on the basis of a ZIP+4+2 postal code alone, a mail piece can be automatically sorted and bundle for delivery to an individual house along a delivery route.
For tracking and information-associating purposes, a unique identification mark such as a bar code, for example, is associated with the mail piece. The identification mark is physically applied to the mail piece using ink or a sticker including the identification mark, for instance. Furthermore, a record is maintained, independent of the marking on the mail piece, associating the unique identification mark and the destination address information. This record is typically maintained in the memory of a computer in association with a stored address field image in a mail piece electronic folder, for example, as explained further in this description. The unique identification mark on the physical mail piece and the computer memory record of the unique identification mark permit the physical mail piece to be associated with stored computer data relating to the mail piece throughout the sorting and transporting process. In one version, the unique identification mark is in the form of a bar code printed on the mail piece. For example, letter-envelope mail pieces currently passing through sorting equipment of the U.S. Postal Service typically bear a unique identification mark in the form of a phosphorescent orange bar code on the rear side of the mail piece.
On a first pass, for example, the delivery address field is resolved (i.e., interpreted) at least to a depth sufficient to determine the incoming mail center for which the mail piece is bound. The resolution of the delivery address field is typically performed with the aid of a computer including OCR (optical character recognition) equipment and an associated address interpretation program. For instance, an image of the destination address field is captured by an image capturing apparatus (e.g., OCR equipment) and stored in the memory storage device of a computer. An address interpretation program analyzes the stored destination address field image according to a set of algorithmic instructions. In a typical version, the address field is analyzed and interpreted in an order from less specific address information to more specific address information; for instance, from (i) incoming mail center to (ii) destination town and/or five digit zip to (iii) street and/or sector digits to (iv) house/apartment number and/or delivery sequence digits, etc. The analysis of the address field image results in one or more sets of sortation signals (e.g., alphanumeric string or strings) which are sent to one or more sets of mechanical sorting apparatus that convey, route and sort the mail piece in response to the sortation signals. Automated address interpretation of a single address field image may alternatively be completed all at once or in stages according to programmed instructions. Furthermore, address interpretation can be delayed in whole or in part accordingly to predetermined deferral parameters. As the address field image is interpreted to produce sorting signals, the sorting signals are typically stored in association with the address field image in computer memory (e.g., in the mail piece computer-memory folder corresponding to a physical mail piece).
In one version using multi-stage processing of address field images, the captured address field image is resolved to a first depth sufficient to generate a first set of sortation signals representative of the incoming mail center. The physical mail piece is sorted at the outgoing mail center for transport to the incoming mail center in response to the first set of signals. Subsequently, the image is re-queued so that the address interpretation program can resolve the remaining required address information for use by machinery at the incoming mail center.
A predetermined xe2x80x9cdepth valuexe2x80x9d is associated with each incoming mail center to which the outgoing mail center transports mail pieces. The depth value is indicative of the maximum depth to which captured destination address field images corresponding to physical mail pieces destined for each incoming mail center are to be resolved before cessation of resolution. The depth value assigned to an incoming mail center corresponds to the level of refinement to which mail pieces are sorted at the incoming mail center with the aid of automated sorting machinery. For instance, as previously indicated, one incoming mail center may have automated equipment that assists in sorting mail down to a five-digit level (e.g., town) within its service area while another may be equipped to sort mail with automated assistance down to a delivery sequence. Once the stored destination address image is resolved at least deeply enough to identify a single incoming mail center, the corresponding depth value for that incoming mail center is referenced by the address interpretation program and instructs the address interpretation program when to cease address resolution on the image. In a typical version, depth values for plural incoming mail centers are stored in a xe2x80x9ccoding depth file.xe2x80x9d In alternative versions, a coding depth file (or xe2x80x9cCDFxe2x80x9d) includes various data relating to each incoming mail center included in the CDF.
The association of a depth value with each incoming mail center according to its automation capabilities distinguishes incoming mail centers in a significant way. One advantage of terminating address interpretation in accordance with an assigned depth value is that computer processing resources are not needlessly dedicated to the interpretation of information and the production of sortation signals that a particular incoming mail center cannot make use of. A more profound advantage, however, is the reduction of needless human intervention in the address interpretation process. For instance, during automated sortation, sorting machines currently reject mail pieces whose address field images cannot be fully interpreted by an address interpretation program. This may occur for a number of reasons including xe2x80x9cillegiblexe2x80x9d (i.e., uninterpretable) handwriting. Sorting machines route rejected mail pieces to a xe2x80x9crejectxe2x80x9d bin, for example. In a typical scenario, human beings stationed at workstations manually inspect rejected mail pieces. These inspectors, at least some of whom are referred to as xe2x80x9cvideo coders,xe2x80x9d read the delivery addresses and attempt to interpret them. A workstation includes a computer terminal and an OCR scanning device that are communicatively linked to the central computer system in which mail piece computer memory folders are stored. A workstation employee scans the unique identification mark on the physical mail piece to call up the mail piece computer-memory folder corresponding to the physical mail piece. The data already of record corresponding to the mail piece is displayed on a workstation computer screen, for example. Address fields also appear that may include any already-resolved address data. The workstation employee manually types into the appropriate fields displayed on the screen information that he or she is able to resolve by human inspection. This manually-entered information is then associated with and becomes part of the mail piece computer-memory folder corresponding to the mail piece. Furthermore, the manually entered information can be converted to sortation signals. The physical mail piece is then re-fed into the automated sorting apparatus for automated sortation in the normal course. Although video coders and other rejected-mail workstation personnel perform an important task, it is wasteful of costly human resources for them to perform needless human inspection and data entry.
In one aspect, the xe2x80x9cdepth valuexe2x80x9d assignment feature of the present system reduces needless human intervention. For example, consider a mail piece destined for an incoming mail center that can only make use of sortation signals resulting from address interpretation out to the five-digit ZIP or town name. If the automated address interpretation program can resolve the corresponding address field image out to that depth, there is no need for the sorting machine to reject the physical mail piece for failure of the system to be able to resolve further; the system is in possession of all the information required to send that mail piece on to the incoming mail center and for the sorting apparatus at the incoming mail center to sort it according to the maximum automated sorting capability of the incoming mail center. In the absence of the xe2x80x9cdepth valuexe2x80x9d that indicates to the computer system that the maximum useful automated address interpretation has occurred, the mail piece of this example would be rejected. A human video coder would then engage in the aforementioned manual data entry process to enter data that is unnecessary and unusable. For instance, it would be useless in this example for the inspector to enter 6th through 11th digit code data or street name and house number data. Furthermore, delay in the delivery of the physical mail piece will have been incurred to acquire the unneeded data entry. Delivery delays for multiple mail pieces can themselves result in costly backlogs.
Regardless of whether automated address interpretation is single stage or multi-stage, once sufficient address interpretation has been performed to identify a single incoming mail center, address interpretation is performed to a second depth not exceeding the depth indicated by the depth value to generate a second set of sortation signals. The second set of sortation signals is associated in computer memory with the computer memory record of the unique identification mark corresponding to the physical mail piece in the mail piece computer-memory folder, for example. In at least one implementation, resolution to a second depth is performed in two or more temporally separated stages, for example, depending on when in time in the physical transport and sorting of the mail piece each subsequent stage of image resolution is required.
The physical mail piece is transported from the outgoing mail center to the incoming mail center.
The second set of sortation signals is rendered accessible to the incoming mail center. This may occur in any of a number of ways. For example, in one version, address interpretation is completed at the outgoing mail center and the resulting sortation signals are communicated to the incoming mail center. In another version, the mail piece computer-memory folder is communicated to the incoming mail center with the stored address field image, and address interpretation is completed at the incoming mail center to produce the necessary second set of sortation signals. In still another illustrative version, mail piece computer-memory folders are communicated to a third, intermediate facility where the images are interpreted to produce second sets of sortation signals. The sortation signals, and at least the associated computer memory record of the unique identification mark, are then communicated to the incoming mail center via a communications link. The communications link could include electromagnetic waves and associated transmission and reception apparatus, fiber optic signal-transmission media and/or electrically conductive wires, for instance.
Once the physical mail piece is received at the incoming mail center, it is identified and associated with the second set of sortation signals corresponding to the mail piece by, for example, scanning or reading the unique identification mark on the physical mail piece with an OCR scanning device. Scanning with the OCR scanning device calls up the computer memory record associated with the mail piece.
The second set of sortation signals is used by the automated sorting machinery at the incoming mail center to control the sortation of the corresponding mail piece. That is, the mail piece is sorted at the incoming mail center in response to the second set of sortation signals that have been xe2x80x9ccalled upxe2x80x9d and associated with the mail piece. As explained in more detail in the detailed description in conjunction with the drawings, each subsequent level of refinement in the sorting process generally occurs in subsequent mail sorting xe2x80x9cpassesxe2x80x9d of a mail piece. For example, on a first pass, mail pieces are sorted to five-digit area; on a second pass, all mail pieces bound for a particular five-digit area are separated from one another and grouped according to a sector in the five-digit area; on a third pass, all mail pieces bound for a particular sector are separated and arranged according to delivery sub-sector within the sector and, on a fourth pass, mail pieces bound for a sub-sector are arranged according to delivery sequence. Each subsequent sort pass requires a sortation signal resulting from a deeper degree of resolution of an address field image. Because each sort pass in the physical sorting process of a mail piece is temporally separated from the other sort passes for that mail piece, image resolution to a second depth can occur in multiple stages, each deeper stage of resolution corresponding to a more refined sort pass. Each sortation signal corresponding to a level of physical sortation refinement needs to be available by the time the corresponding mail piece is ready for physical sortation at that refinement level. However, in such a sortation system, there is no need for image resolution to have occurred to a depth greater than is xe2x80x9ccurrentlyxe2x80x9d needed. This fact is leveraged in one or more implementations in which resolution to a second depth is performed in two or more temporally separated stages, for example, depending on when in time in the physical transport and sorting of the mail piece each subsequent stage of image resolution is required.
In an alternative version of a coding depth file, distinctions are made among distribution points (e.g., five-digit local branch offices) to which an incoming mail center sends mail pieces. For instance, within an incoming mail center with maximum overall automated sorting capability to a depth of delivery sequence, the delivery sequence level of automated sortation may be available for some five-digit areas serviced by the incoming hub, but not others. For example, the towns of Littleton and Groton, Mass. are both serviced by the Worcester Mass. mail center. When the Worcester hub serves in its capacity as incoming mail center, it may be equipped to sort Littleton mail down to delivery sequence, but Groton mail only down to five-digit area. In one version, this difference is accommodated by a coding depth file that assigns a primary (or default) depth value to the Worcester hub, but also assigns secondary depth values reflective of the sortation refinement levels corresponding to five-digit areas within the service area of the Worcester hub for which the sortation refinement level is not reflected by the default depth value. The maximum depth to which address interpretation is performed for incoming mail at the Worcester hub identifies delivery sequences within subsectors within sectors of a five-digit region, for example. However, this would be unnecessary in the case of mail bound for Groton and, accordingly, the secondary depth value would cause automated address interpretation to cease at the five-digit depth for Groton-bound mail. Additional details of illustrative coding depth files are discussed in the detailed description and depicted in the accompanying drawings.
As mentioned previously, another method of optimizing machine and human resources involves deferring tasks according to when they need to be performed, rather than on a first-come, first served basis regardless of when results are required.
One method for deferred processing of a mail piece including a delivery address through first and second mail centers includes the following steps.
A mail piece having a first address portion including sufficient information to route the mail piece to an incoming mail center, and a second address portion including sufficient information to further route the mail piece for delivery to an addressee from the incoming mail center, is received by an outgoing mail center. In a typical version, the outgoing and incoming mail centers are postal hubs uniquely identifiable upon resolution of only the first three or four digits of a five-digit ZIP Code, as previously discussed. In such a version, postal employees transport mail pieces from local post office branches to the outgoing mail center.
The first address portion is resolved to determine the incoming mail center for which the mail piece is bound. Again, the resolution will typically be performed with the aid of a computer including OCR scanning equipment and an interpretation program. For tracking and information-associating purposes, a unique identification mark such as a bar code, for example, is associated with the mail piece. The identification mark is physically applied to the mail piece using ink or a sticker including the identification mark, for instance. Furthermore, a record is maintained, independent of the marking on the mail piece, associating the unique identification mark and the first and second address portions. This record is typically maintained in the memory of a computer.
The mail piece is physically sorted at the outgoing mail center based on the resolved first address portion to an appropriate transport vehicle bound for the incoming mail center. Although the first three or four digits of a U.S. five-digit destination ZIP Code is typically sufficient to sort a mail piece to the appropriate transport vehicle at the outgoing mail center for transport to an incoming mail center, alternatively, the city and state might be relied upon. The city and state may also be relied upon when, for instance, a ZIP Code has been omitted or when the ZIP Code is incorrect or unrecognizable. As previously mentioned, analogous implementations within the scope of the invention may be applied in countries other than the United States. In foreign countries, information analogous to U.S. Zip Codes (e.g., postal codes), may be analyzed, for example.
In an implementation, data is maintained relating the outgoing mail center and the incoming mail center. More specifically, in one version, at least a predetermined transport time indicative of the time required for an item of mail of the same class as the mail piece to be transported between the outgoing and incoming mail centers is maintained (e.g., stored in a xe2x80x9clook-upxe2x80x9d table in computer memory). In one or more implementations, such a xe2x80x9clook-upxe2x80x9d table is incorporated into a coding depth file. The time required for transit may depend on such factors as the time of year and even the time of departure of the mail piece on a particular day of the week. Accordingly, this data may be periodically or constantly updated, particularly if plural mail pieces are tracked and their transit times are calculated, recorded and averaged by a computer, for example. In alternative versions, transport-time data for every mail piece bound for an incoming mail center from an outgoing mail center is tracked or such data can be tracked intermittently. For example, every third or fifth mail piece bound for a particular incoming mail center might be tracked for transport time. By automatically tracking such information and storing it in a data processing system, for instance, real time statistical data can be compiled, maintained and made accessible to either or both of the outgoing and incoming mail centers. Such data can be used at the outgoing mail center in order to constantly or periodically update the xe2x80x9cdeferral timesxe2x80x9d discussed immediately below. The incoming mail center could use the data, for example, to prepare resources for a particular volume of work during a particular window of time.
Based on maintained travel-time data, for example, a deferral time is assigned and associated with a mail piece depending on the outgoing mail center from which a mail piece originates and the incoming mail center for which it is destined. Other factors reflected in a deferral time may include, for instance, (i) the class of mail in question, (ii) intrafacility processing time between sort passes and (iii) whether manual processing is required, by way of non-limiting example. A predetermined deferral time represents, for example, a maximum length of time that can elapse from some established point in time in the processing of the mail piece before the second address portion is resolved and rendered available to the incoming mail center for use in further sorting the mail piece to an addressee. Alternatively, the deferral time can represent a minimum elapsed time before resolution and availability of the second address portion is required. Another alternative is to provide a range (i.e., a time window) whose end points are minimum and maximum deferral times. As an example, a computer instruction may read xe2x80x9cdefer for no less than 48 hours and no greater than 71 hoursxe2x80x9d (e.g., 48 hrs less than deferral time less than 71 hrs). Although not required, it is advantageous to express the deferral time in terms including at least a maximum time; by including a maximum elapsed time, the required information will not arrive later than it is needed at the incoming mail center. Contrarily, if the deferral time is expressed only in terms of a minimum elapsed time, processing will be delayed for at least that minimum amount of time, but could be delayed longer than desired, resulting in a backlog of unsortable mail at the incoming mail center. The established point in time from which the deferral time begins to run could be the departure time of the transport vehicle or the time the mail piece is marked with the unique identification mark and the record of the identification mark and first and second address portions recorded, for example.
Fluctuations in acceptable deferral times may exist for different times of the year, week or even the day. Another factor is the mode of transportation by which a mail piece is to be transported. By maintaining statistical data relating to transit times, deferral times can be adjusted continuously and/or periodically based on such data. For example, an acceptable maximum deferral time for a mail piece departing from an outgoing mail center in Boston on a Tuesday in August, and bound for Los Angeles, may be 70 hours, while an acceptable deferral time for the same mail piece departing on a Thursday in mid-December may be 90 hours. Maintaining and consulting real-time transit data facilitates the adjustment of deferral times to reflect current conditions in the handling of mail between two or more mail centers, thereby adding an additional dimension of efficiency.
A record of the unique identification mark is transmitted, and at least the resolved second address portion is made available to the incoming mail center in association with the unique identification mark within, for example, an elapsed time not exceeding the maximum time expressed in a deferral time. When implemented with the aid of a computer system, this information can be stored and associated in a mail piece computer memory folder and/or data block. In this way, the resolved second address portion can be xe2x80x9cmatchedxe2x80x9d (i.e., re-associated) with the physical mail piece at the incoming mail center and the mail piece routed for delivery to an addressee.
In alternative versions, the second address portion is resolved, for example, at the outgoing mail center, the incoming mail center or at some third location such as a central or regional computer network and/or employee center to which both the outgoing and incoming mail centers are communicatively linked. Regardless of the particular location of resolution, an important factor is that second address portions, or the various portions thereof, are interpreted and rendered accessible to the incoming mail center when needed. The transmission and resolution of the information required by the incoming mail center can be performed while the mail piece is in transit between the outgoing and incoming mail centers.
The foregoing examples having focused on the deferred processing of individual mail pieces, plural mail pieces are processed through an outgoing mail center and various respective incoming mail centers, depending on respective destinations, according to one or more versions of a method for deferred processing generally as follows.
A plurality of mail pieces is received at an outgoing mail center. Each mail piece of the plurality has a destination address field with a first address portion including sufficient information to route the mail piece to its respective incoming mail center and a second address portion including sufficient information to further route the mail piece for delivery to an addressee from the respective incoming mail center, as generally described in previous examples.
An image is captured of the destination address field of each mail piece of the plurality of mail pieces at the outgoing mail center and the image corresponding to each mail piece is stored in computer memory. xe2x80x9cComputer memoryxe2x80x9d may include primary storage devices such as RAM or hard drives, or secondary devices such as magnetic disk, magnetic tape, CD, etc., by way of non-limiting example. The captured image corresponding to each mail piece includes a first address portion image corresponding to the first address portion of the destination address field on the mail piece and a second address portion image corresponding to the second address portion of the destination address field on the mail piece.
Each mail piece is marked with a unique identification mark representing its identity and a computer memory record of the identification mark is stored in association with the stored image of the destination address field corresponding to that mail piece.
The first address portion image corresponding to each mail piece is resolved to generate a first signal representing the respective incoming mail center for that mail piece and each mail piece of the plurality of mail pieces at the outgoing mail center is sorted in response to the first signal corresponding to that mail piece for transport to the respective incoming mail center for that mail piece.
Data is maintained relating the outgoing mail center to each respective incoming mail center. The data reflects at least a predetermined transit time indicative of the time required for a mail piece to be transported from the outgoing mail center to each respective incoming mail center.
Each mail piece of the plurality of mail pieces is transported from the outgoing mail center to its respective incoming mail center.
The second address portion image corresponding to each mail piece of the plurality of mail pieces is resolved to generate a second signal representing the information necessary to further route the mail piece for delivery to an addressee from its respective incoming mail center and the second signal corresponding to each mail piece is rendered accessible to the respective incoming mail center for that mail piece.
The order in which second signals corresponding to mail pieces of the plurality of mail pieces are at least one of (i) generated and (ii) made accessible to the respective incoming mail centers is prioritized in accordance with when the second signals are required by each of the respective incoming mail centers, depending on the maintained data relating the outgoing mail center to the respective incoming mail centers.
Each mail piece is received at its respective incoming mail center and identified by reading the unique identification mark thereon, and the mail piece is associated with the second signal corresponding to that mail piece.
Each mail piece is then sorted at its respective incoming mail center in response to the second signal corresponding to that mail piece for delivery to the addressee.
An advantage of deferring selected portions of processing in general accordance with one or more of the foregoing methods is that resources, whether human or computer based, can be more efficiently utilized by selective allocation as required. For instance, it is not required that the second address portion of a mail piece be resolved and made available any sooner than that information is needed at the incoming mail center to further sort the mail piece for final delivery. Therefore, rather than dedicating resources at the outgoing mail center to full address resolution for each mail piece on a first-come, first-served basis, for example, resources can be more efficiently utilized by resolving only that information that is necessary to route each mail piece to the next stage in its processing.
Secondary address resolution for each mail piece is prioritized relative to other mail pieces according to when resolved secondary address information is needed. For instance, consider first and second mail pieces of the same class entering the postal system through an outgoing mail center in Boston and bound for New York City and Austin, Tex., respectively. The second address portion of the New York City-bound first mail piece will be resolved and made available to the incoming mail center in New York City before the second address portion of the second mail piece is resolved and made available to the incoming mail center in Austin. This example is consistent with the observation that the time required for the first mail piece to reach New York City will generally be less than the time required for the second mail piece to reach Austin. By deferring the processing of information that is not required until a later point in time and, furthermore, processing such further information for plural mail pieces according to the order in which it is required, increased efficiency in the utilization of resources is realized.
Contrarily, in a system that processes address information on a first-come, first-served basis, second portion address information for an Austin-bound mail piece that enters the postal system just prior to a NYC-bound mail piece would have its second portion address information resolved prior to that of the NYC-bound mail piece. Under such a system, something must give. For instance, either unnecessary delay in delivery of the NYC-bound mail piece results or the postal system is required to dedicate inordinate resources to ensure the smooth and timely flow of mail. In either event, efficiency is not maximized.
In another aspect, real time data is used to inform incoming mail centers of the volume of work they can expect at some time in the future. For example maintained data reflective of how many mail pieces bound for a particular incoming mail center are processed at each of a plurality of outgoing mail centers during particular sort shifts can be communicated to the incoming mail center. As a more particular example, the Worcester hub is fed by all outgoing mail centers in the United States on a particular day. In one version, each outgoing mail center maintains data tracking how many mail pieces it processed during a particular time window and for which sort shift at the Worcester incoming mail center they are targeted. This data is communicated from each outgoing mail center to Worcester periodically, or continuously. Management personnel at the Worcester hub can use this data to plan machine and human resource allocation even before the relevant physical mail pieces arrive.